Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Iron County voters will head to the polls on April 2 for the state’s spring election, but before that one town — Mercer — will see a primary election on Feb. 19.
The race for two spots on the Mercer board of supervisors will require a primary because there are too many candidates for the general election ballot. Seven candidates — incumbent Tom Thompson, Tanner Hiller, Brad Bettin, Eric Snow, Christa Reinert, David McNutt and Opal Roberts — filed papers to appear on the Feb. 19 ballot. The top four candidates will advance to the April 2 election.
Also on the April 2 ballot in Mercer, supervisor Jeff Stenberg is challenging incumbent John Sendra for town chair, Amber Thompson is looking to unseat Lin Miller as town treasurer and Christan Brandt is running unopposed for another term as clerk.
Brandt is also running against incumbent Michael Vecchonie for a seat on the Mercer Sanitary District board.
Four candidates — incumbent Christa Reinert, Robert Davis, Jim Hannemann and Paul Chaney — are running for two seats on the Mercer School Board.
In Hurley, two members of the current school board — Mike Fontecchio and Rick Swartz — are running for another term.
The rest of the April 2 ballot is as following:
—In the town of Anderson, supervisor Patrick Hanson is running for town chair. Rodney Vlach and Scott Heiden are running as town supervisors.
—In the town of Carey, town chairman Robert Walesewicz, as well as supervisors Thomas Bainbridge and Diane Schmidtke are all seeking re-election.
—The town of Gurney will select its candidates at a caucus, scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Gurney Town Hall.
—In the town of Kimball, Joe Simonich is challenging incumbent Ron Ahonen for town chairman. Randall Stoltenberg and Carol Decker are running for the two open town supervisor seats. Mae Moderson is challenging incumbent Pamela Backman for town treasurer, while Clerk Irene Salzmann is running unopposed for another term.
—In the town of Knight, incumbent town chairman Daniel Soine is unopposed in his re-election bid, as are current supervisors Owen Garro and Mary Koski.
—In the city of Montreal, council member Joan Levra is seeking to represent Ward 1 for another term and Richard Swartz is running in Ward 2.
—In the town of Oma, the ballot is all incumbents running unopposed. Steve Finco is running for town chairman, Larry Erickson and Robert Matz are running as supervisors, Denise Schmitz-Enking is running as clerk and Linda Kuduk is running as treasurer.
—In the town of Pence, Michael Paternoster is seeking another term as town chairman. While Joel Olson is running for another term as supervisor, the other supervisor seat is open on the ballot. Lori Genisot is running for another term as town clerk.
—In the town of Saxon, all five elected officials are unopposed in seeking another term.
Andrew Rowe is running for town chair, Karl Krall and Kelly Thurow are running as supervisors, Kathy Brauer is running as clerk and Stephanie LaFortune is running as treasurer.
—In the town of Sherman, Gerald Luke is running for another term as town chairman. Incumbent Kary Kessler is joined by Robert Lepper Sr. in the supervisor race. Incumbents Amy Slone and Gerard Murrin are running for clerk and treasurer respectively.
There are also a pair of state judicial races on the spring ballot.
Lisa Neubauer, of Racine, Wis., and Brian Hagedorn, of Oconomowoc, Wis., are competing for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court after Shirley Abrahamson filed a notification she wasn’t seeking another term.
Lisa Stark is seeking to serve on the court of appeals for District 3 representing northern Wisconsin.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in both the primary and general elections.
